Canada's Participation in TPP as Founding Member Offers Key Advantage

By Bruce Cochrane

The chair of Sask Pork says Canada's participation as a founding member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership puts Canada in an strong position to benefit as new members, such as China, come on board.

The 12 nations involved in negotiations aimed at creating a Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement completed a deal last week and now it will be up to Canada's Parliament to ratify the agreement.

Florian Possberg, the chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, says members of this partnership represent 40 percent f the world's economy so this is really an important trade agreement for Canada and particularly our pork industry who are very significant traders globally.

Florian Possberg-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
We've shown that Canada ca be a leading negotiator of free trade agreements world wide.

We've still got one with Europe, we have this one and the North American Free Trade Agreement has been very positive for our industry.

It shows that we are serious about being a global player in terms of trade.

Being a founding member of this trade agreement, there is thoughts that China will likely be interested in joining this agreement over time.

Being a founding member means that we're really part of the core group that sets the rules and regulations and how it operates.
I think there has to be a lot of appreciation on the part of our industry for the hard work that went into making this happen.

It just shows the dedication and the absolute commitment to being a global partner in terms of trade and our industry particularly really appreciates that.

Possberg says it's important for Canada to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and it's also very important for us to be there as a founding member.

Source: Farmscape